Women in Science Fund

The purpose of the Women in Science Fund at IIASA is to provide a platform of financial support to current and future IIASA women connected to science at all career levels.

Based on the UNESCO report on science in 2030 (2015), only 28% of researchers are women and only 3% of Scientific Nobel Prizes have been awarded to women. Women are also significantly underrepresented in senior scientific leadership positions. Currently at IIASA, women researchers over 40 make up only 9% of research staff, whereas men over 40 account for 40% of research staff. The mission of the Women in Science Fund is to address this gender gap.

Conceived by IIASA's Women in Science Club and managed by the Women in Science Fund trustees, the fund offers different avenues of support for women connected to science:

The Women in Science Fund relies solely on donations to fulfill its mission.

Support the Women in Science Fund at IIASA

We invite you to make a donation which the Women in Science Fund trustees will allocate based on the most pressing need. You are also welcome to direct your gift to support a specific goal, e.g. a contribution towards career support, research fellowships, or mentoring program.

The first funder announced

The Women in Science Fund is happy to announce its first major pledge of support from the outgoing Director General and CEO Professor Dr. Pavel Kabat and his wife Mrs. Anneke Kabat-Geselschap. In his farewell address to the IIASA community on 22 August 2018, Kabat pledged to donate €20,000 to the Women in Science Fund to support early and mid career women in science at IIASA.

"I am so proud that this fund was conceptualized and grew using the grassroots nature of our club. We are thrilled to have club members, Pavel and Anneke as our first funders. Their gift empowers us with support and resources to allow the Women in Science Club to continue to make a difference in the IIASA scientific community", said the club coordinator Amanda Palazzo.

Pavel and Anneke presenting a certificate to Amanda Palazzo and other WISC members announcing their generous contribution

Women in Science Fund Ambassadors

We are honored to support this great network of people from all professional backgrounds that are connected to science and determined to amplify the scientific contributions and profile of women. Achieving gender balance in both the leadership and the make-up of the research faculty at IIASA is a process that demands action from the top level and from grassroots efforts like the Women in Science Fund. We offer our heartfelt support to this wonderful initiative and are ready to embrace the change with you.

Professor Dr. Pavel Kabat and Mrs. Anneke Kabat-Geselschap

Professor Dr. Pavel Kabat commenced his appointment as Director General and CEO of IIASA in February 2012. As of 1 September 2018, he will become the Chief Scientist and Director of Research at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO-UN) in Geneva, Switzerland. Trained as a mathematician and hydrologist, Professor Kabat’s almost 30 year research career has covered earth system science and global change, with a specific focus on land-atmosphere interactions, climate hydrology, the water cycle, and water resources. He is full professor of Earth System Science at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, founding chair and director of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences and Arts Institute for Integrated Research on the Wadden Sea Region (the Wadden Academy), a member of the Leadership Council for the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, and co-founder of the high-level Alpbach-Laxenburg Group.

I am proud to have been asked to be an Ambassador for the Women in Science Fund. Throughout my career I have seen only too often that extremely talented women have not been retained in research due to lack of support. This is not only disappointing for these researchers, but is also a loss for the global research environment. Initiatives such as IIASA's Women in Science Fund are very valuable in providing both financial and moral support to women researchers at all stages in their careers.

Professor Dame Lesley Anne Glover has a BSc in Biochemistry from Edinburgh and a PhD in Molecular Microbiology from Cambridge, UK. Between 2006 and 2011, she was the first Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government of Scotland. She then moved to Brussels serving as the first Chief Scientific Adviser to the President of the European Commission (2012-2014), a role in which she became a champion for scientific evidence in EU policy.

In August 2017, she was elected President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh for the period 2018-2021. Furthermore, Glover is currently a Special Adviser to the Principal / Vice-Chancellor at the University of Strathclyde and a IIASA Distinguished Visiting Fellow.